The Singing of the Whales

1

"Just lift your leg up a little higher. A bit more. There! You've got it." 2

With one last final tug, Tom lifted Alahna onto the pink umbrella tree. 3

"Thanks Tom. I feel like a monkey climbing these damn things." She giggled. "A banana wouldn't feel out of place right now." The umbrella trees stood like massive flowers, taller than anything on Earth. They appeared to be over a mile tall. The pink tops of each tree appeared as inside-out umbrellas, collecting pools of rainwater. Below the flower tops all the umbrella trees were linked together by a thorny web of vines. 4

Tom and Alahna have been climbing from tree to tree for hours, ever since they awoke to find themselves on top of one. 5

They sat down on the edge of the one they just climbed onto, with their feet resting in the pool of water. Tom was the first to speak up. 6

"So you said you live in Florida. Where at?" 7

"Just a little island known as Captiva." Tom looked at her as if clueless. "It's by the Fort Meyers area." 8

"I see. I heard that area gets hit pretty bad by hurricanes." 9

"We manage," she said softly, staring at her reflection in the rainwater. Yes, the hurricanes have been getting badder every year, but her and her family always seem to manage. Much of their Dutch family lives up in Kentucky. "We go up north to see my family every summer. We don't have a lot of belongings in our Florida home." 10

"Sounds tough." Hurricanes? It must be good to have all that water. She doesn't live in Texas you jackass. Get out of my head. 11

She looked up at the sky. The massive pink clouds against the yellow sky looked so beautiful. They seem so close. A massive planet floated beyond the clouds, four times bigger than the moon appears in the Earth sky. It was a dark orange, with rings around it, like Saturn. Such a beautiful sight. "I bet Aloe Vera isn't even nearly as cool as this." She looked at Tom. He was staring at his feet, clutching his head as if in pain. "Are you alright?" 12

"What?" Tom looked up. "Um yeah." Brilliant. You'll never make it home alive. Leave me alone. He looked at her. She was smiling. "We better get going if we're going to figure out a way out of here." 13

Alahna stood up. "Lead the way." 14

They made their way from tree to tree, talking. Alahna did most of the talking. Tom just listened. 15

"And when we came back, not even the frame of our house still stood." She continued on. Tom just nodded. "Everything was on the ground. Clothes, furniture, everything. Then I looked up and some man in a speedo was running off with my bikini!" 16

Tom nodded to show he was listening. Speak up you loser, your letting her do all the talking. Shut up! Don't make me take over. Get out of my fucking head! Say something! "You know I could really use a doughnut right now." Idiot! 17

"What's that?" she asked. 18

"Nevermind." 19

"No, I mean that sound." She looked up at the yellow sky. "It sounds like singing." 20

"What?" Tom looked up too. 21

They were massive creatures flying in the sky. 22

"Whales!" she cheered with surprise. 23

"But whales don't fly." 24

"These ones do!". They were indeed massive flying whales, with huge wings. Their mouths were massive. They were soaring high in the sky, much higher than the umbrella trees, scooping up green clouds of dust into their mouths. Their singing echoed throughout the sky. 25

Tom studied the whales closer. "I wonder where they perch. I don't see any feet or digits, let alone a place to perch." 26

"Perhaps they don't." 27

"How can that be?" 28

"If you were a flying whale, singing peacefully up in this beautiful sky, would you ever want to come down?" 29

"I suppose not." God she is beautiful. But she's too hot for me. She's too young for you. I'm only thirty. 30

"And that green stuff is food," she added. 31

"Perhaps." 32

"Well if we want any chance of surviving, we should start looking for food. I wonder if there's any way to get up there..." She stared up at the sky in thought. 33

Tom's stomach growled. With all this confusion, he just now realized that he was starving. Perhaps you could kill her for food. Shut the fuck up! And all those things she has in her pockets, they could come in handy. I'm not a kleptomaniac! 34

"Do you have any type of a clock on you?" 35

Tom looked down at his old, threadbare watch. "It's not working." 36

A look of dissapointment shone on her face. She looked back up at him. "You know you never told me about where you live." 37

"I live in the middle of Texas. My father's a picador. We make an okay living." 38

"I've seen bullfighting on TV before. It looks fun."39

"Yeah." He hoisted her up onto another slightly taller umbrella tree. She reached out her hand to help pull him up. "Thanks."40

Alahna walked to the other edge of the tree and continued to watch the singing whales while Tom was cleansing his face in the pool of water.41

Alahna gasped. "Tom! Come look at this whale!"42

"What?" He walked over and looked up into the sky. Little bird things were attacking one of the flying whales. Their red wings buzzed quickly. The whales song turned to a terrified, shrieking pitch as the little birds pecked flesh out of it.43

Alahna had a terrified look on her face. "They're like oversized bees!"44

Tom continued examining them. She was right. Hundreds of bird bees swarmed around the whale, as it slowly lost altitude. The shrieks were louder. The singing of its fellow whales stopped completely. The bird bees were slowly eating it alive. Even sunny beaches have sharks. Tom's pupil's shrank. What the? "LOOK OUT!"45

Tom pounced on top of Alahna, bringing them both into the pool of water. The bird bees swarmed above. Blood dripped into the pool from the whale flesh they were carrying in their mouths. What a horrible smell! This is the end. You're both going to die here. I wish you'd die!46

The buzzing stopped and the bird bees were gone. The pool of water was now a faint pink.47

Tom put his hands on Alahna's shoulders from behind. "It's alright. They're gone now." Telling their friends where you are. Shut up. There was no sing of the injured whale. It's probably still falling. That's a long drop.48

Alahna looked as if she was about to burst into tears. "Tom, I don't want to be here anymore! I want to go home!" She was now sobbing into his shoulder. "I could be at home right now, playing ball with my little brother! Mother would be making dinner inside, and at night we would all have a camp fire!"49

Tom looked up at the ringed planet in the sky. Where are we? You have no hope of surviving! Give up now! Kill yourself! And kill her if you care for her! No! Tom moaned.50

"Are you alright?" Alahna asked.51

Kill her! Let go!! If you won't, I will! No, I won't let you have control! I won't let you hurt her!52

"Tom, you really don't look so good."53

Eeerrrrghh! Ahhhh!!!! Tom grabbed Alahna's arms tightly. His nails dug into her flesh.54

"What are you doing?!"55

Die girl!!!! Let go!!56

Alahna was screaming in pain. "STOP IT!! What do you think you're doing?!!"57

Tom's nails began to loosen their grip on her arm. Ahh!!! It must be done!! Let go of her!!! Tom released his grip and his arms snapped back. Alahna was rubbing her arm with her other hand. No!!! Die!!! Tom slowly backed up to the edge of the umbrella tree, struggling.58

"Tom, no!!" Alahna screamed.59

You will torture me no longer!! You idiot!! With one final step back, Tom's back foot slipped and he fell off the edge. Die!! No!!!!! 60

How long did Tom fall? Did he fall forever? Did he hit the ground with a crack and have his corpse eaten by glowing parasites? What of Alahna? Did she die of hunger? Commit suicide? Get eaten by the bird bees? Or is she still out there somewhere, traversing that foreign world?61

We may never know.62